Just Another Day
by FreekyDisaster18
Summary: *COMPLETE* A drunk woman is found outside a nightclub, raped and murdered. While solving the case the team all individually battle with personal troubles.
1. The Start Of A New Day

**This is my first attempt at a Taggart Fan Fiction.**

**Hope you all enjoy **

**:)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. **

***

DCI Matthew Burke sighed as he stepped into the police station, nodding his head curtly at anyone who he past and definitely those who acknowledged him. Burke wasn't a hard man to get on with, actually quite the opposite, he just came across hard so that he had the right level of authority over his team. It made them feel safe whenever they were out on the job.

He sighed as he sat down on his chair, the night before playing in his mind. Not that it couldn't. It was the same night he'd played a role in for the past couple of years. He'd go home from the station, place a meal for one into the oven or microwave - really depended on how hungry he was - before settling down in front of the telly to watch whatever crap was on. Last night he'd watched another film fresh from Hollywood where the life of a homicide detective was glamorised.

The idea that they never appeared tired, they always had the perfect wife sat waiting at home who completely understood that the job was the number one thing. Burke knew that wasn't the case. As did the others on his teams.

It was a cold lonely night like last night that made Burke realise that he was lonely and did want to return home to someone. It was just unfair to make anyone take that role when he never expected to be home for them or to understand their selfish need for a little attention.

He groaned as he looked at the letter of resignation he'd typed a month ago, his heartbeat thumping as he wondered if he'd ever hand it in.

***

The alarm rang and DS Jackie Reid groaned as she sat up in her bed, her hand running through her scruffy brown locks. Her bed was a mess from the amount of tossing and turning she did during the night, haunted by imagery that most people would only ever see in films or on bad TV shows. She coughed lightly reaching over to turn the alarm off.

That annoying buzz had woke her up for the past couple of years at the same time every morning. She hated it and knew that eventually it was going to drive her crazy. You'd think for how many times she'd heard it she'd be accustomed to it's drone but she wasn't.

Sighing, she climbed out of bed and moved to her bathroom. Turning on the shower she turned to look at the lone toothbrush and sighed. After the death of her late husband she had just given up hope of ever finding someone else. Sighing, she climbed out of her pyjamas and went under the warm water that shot free from the showerhead.

***

The alarm sounded and the man woke, turning over in his bed and lightly kissing the pretty blonde on the lips. "Good morning." He drawled in his charming Scottish accent that made many girls all fluster and fall heads over heels with him.

"Morning." The woman grumbled lightly, her hands shielding her eyes from the strong glare of the fresh sunlight.

"You look even more beautiful in the morning, if that is humanly possible." The woman laughed as she reached up and kissed him again, her hands digging through his hair.

"DI Robbie Ross, you are a very bad addiction that I am starting to get." She whispered lightly.

"Mentioning that. I have to go to work." He said taking hold of her pouting bottom lip with his teeth and lightly biting. "Stay here, have a shower. If you're still here when I get home tonight…" He whispered seductively kissing her gently.

"You'll be shocked, you player?" She teased laughing as she sat up in the bed, not caring about her nakedness.

"You know me so well." He drawled before heading into the bathroom, another one confident about his nakedness. The blonde woman smiled as she watched him move into the shower.

***

Standing in front of the mirror, DC Stuart Fraser straightened the new baby blue tie. He'd been up for approximately two hours and was now ready to go into work with his neat appearance and happy grin. He sighed as he ran a brush through his hand.

He sighed as he looked over at the neatly made bed, his eyes saddened at the fact he'd not shared that with a partner in ages. The life of a DC was really starting to take a toll.

***

Jackie moved into their kitchen area and flicked on the kettle, a morning tradition to make her and her boys a cup of coffee. Sighing she checked her tired reflection in the window and sighed. "This is going to be a long day…"

"Talking to yourself, Jackie?" Came the taunting voice of her constant pain in the arse, Robbie.

"It's the only way I get an intelligent conversation when Stuart isn't around." She threw back at him before pouring water into the cups.

"Someone's crabby this morning. Time of the month?"

"I'm crabby whenever I see you, Robbie." She commented as she moved out holding two cups of coffee. "Morning, Stuart." She called to the blonde guy who'd just walked through the door.

"Mroning Jackie!" He called back with the same dull enthusiasm as he accepted his drink before moving to sit at his desk.

The door to Burke's office flew open and he smiled at them. "No time for coffee. There's been a murder."

The team all placed down their cups and grabbed their coats.

It was just another day.

***

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**Thanks for reading!**

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	2. Case Arrival

**Sorry About The Delay During Chapters!**

**However, I'm back with more!**

**Enjoy!**

**____________________________________________________**

**Disclaimer: I couldn't remember the name of the blonde ME so I've made up my own **

Even if you weren't a police officer of some sort you'd still realise that a crime had been permitted outside the busy nightclub. There was three patrol cars, their blue lights flashing, their doors open and they had no passengers. A blue and white tape had been placed across the mouth of the alley and there was at least three uniformed officers manning it to make sure that no one could get in. Several news stations were there along with newspaper journalists.

Their cars pulled up and Robbie groaned at the crowd. "They never make it easy for us, do they?" He growled climbing out of the car and slamming his door shut. Jackie just smiled at his mood as she started out after him.

"Officers! Can we have a quote!" The journalists all chanted in different routines. Burke looked over at them, his eyebrows raised in a puzzled manner.

"Kind of difficult seeing as we haven't seen ourselves, don't you think?" He drawled before turning to one of the uniformed officers. "Please show these good people where to go." He grumbled before ducking under the tape that another officer was holding up for him, waiting for his team to follow him.

Slumped against a wall was a young blonde woman in a white dress. Well a dress that used to be white as it was now a horrible shade of red due to the amount of blood that the victim had lost and had dried. Her head slumped onto her right shoulder back against the wall. It was a good thing the officers were used to this kind of image or Jackie feared she'd be throwing up her breakfast.

"Good morning…" Jackie stopped as she realised that she didn't recognise the M.E that was here on the scene.

"Detectives!" The ME called straightening up, his hand on his bag as he groaned. "I'm sorry about the surprise, Miss. I'm Jack Wright." He said holding out his hand. "I've only just started working on your division." Jackie smiled as she shook his hand, noticing how attractive the man was almost immediately.

"Morning, Doctor Wright. I'm DCI Matthew Burke." After that he gave a quick round of introductions for his team he looked over at the victim. "Who do we have?"

"According to her ID, she's a student at the university. Education." An officer handed it over to Jackie.

"Sarah Williams. 22. Caucasian. Unmarried." She listed off for the team.

"You got all that from a drivers licence?" Robbie asked.

"No. She's a blood donor to." Jackie said handing him the purse before looking back at the M.E. "Anything else you can tell us Doc?"

"It appears our victim was out with her girls having a good time when she was dragged into the back alley…"

"Dragged?" Stuart interrupted.

"Yes detective." The doctor said before moving over and letting him look at the scuff marks across the floor. "You can see where her heels have dug in as she's struggled and there are bad fingerprint marks on her upper arm. When I get her back to the lab I can tell you if she was sexually attacked." He said looking over at Burke.

"What was the cause of death, Doctor?" Robbie asked.

"I'd say from primary scan that it was the extensive stabbing to the upper body but you never know until I've done the autopsy." The doctor said before turning his back on them.

Moving back down to the end of the alley Burke turned to look around. There was a CCTV camera outside the nightclub and there appeared to be one that moved across the street. "Right. We need to find out about this victim. Robbie, Jackie I want you to watch the CCTV footage. Me and Stuart will go and see if anyone reported her missing."

"Right boss." Robbie said heading over the road.


	3. Nightclub CCTV

**Sorry about how long it's took…**

**Enjoy :)**

*******

Stepping into the nightclub across the way, Robbie looked around and realised that he didn't get out as much as he used to do in his prime. The bars were a complete mess still. Alcopop (well that's what he thought they were called, he couldn't be quite sure) bottles littered the tables, floor and seemed to be in the most random of places around the bar. Looking down at his feet he realised he didn't know what he was standing in but his foot sure as hell was stuck. He grimaced as he looked over at Jackie. "I'd hate to be the cleaner here."

"I'm sure the woman who cleans your flat says the same thing." She jibed before noticing that someone had left the backroom with a recycling box and was starting to collect some of the bottles. "Excuse me, miss?"

The woman looked up, a little startled to find two people in the club at such an early hour on a Monday morning. "We're not open…"

"We realised that, Miss. We're looking for the owner of the place?" Robbie drawled smiling at the woman. Jackie bit back the urge to roll her eyes. The woman was attractive and Robbie sure had noticed. Typical male was all she could think.

"You're looking at her." The woman said placing the recycling box down on the table, using her hand to wipe her fringe out of her face. "Sorry about the mess."

"I expect it's like this after every night." Robbie drawled leaving Jackie to look around.

"I was talking about me." She teased back before looking around. "It looks worse than it actually is."

"Why don't you hire cleaners?"

"I do. They come in later." She said before wiping her hands on the apron she wore. "Sally Jenkins, how may I help you?"

"I'm DS Jackie Reid and this is my partner, DI Ross." She looked over at the woman. "A woman was murdered in the early hours of this morning across the road in that alley. We've come to ask if we can have the footage to your CCTV cameras." The woman looked over at her.

"Sure. Give me a minute and I shall go fetch it to you." Sally muttered heading off to the back of the nightclub.

"Can't take you anywhere!" Jackie sighed as she watched Robbie stare after her arse.

"Oh, Jackie. You have to understand that I like to know I'm attractive to women and I've probably just made her day too."

"You arrogant pig!" Jackie gasped shaking her head, not sure why she was shocked by the comment. It was Robbie after all.

***

Jackie settled back in the office, her hand taking hold of the remote as she pressed play. Without an accurate time of death yet she had a long period of time to watch of this tape hoping to catch a glimpse a sight of what had happened to Sarah Williams.

The camera was a mover. It changed every so often. Meaning that the chances of seeing anything happen to the Williams girl was going to be slim. She sighed as she leant forward, her chin resting on the palm of her hands.

It had hit two am. She still hadn't seen Sarah Williams enter the small surface area she had watched.

That's when she saw her. A drunk Sarah Williams stumbled out of the club, her hand clinging to the bodyguard's arm as she stumbled heavily thanks to her heels. The bodyguard just shook her off his arm, probably muttering something distasteful about drunk slappers.

There was a small altercation between the two characters before the camera moved direction. When it fixed back on the spot again, Sarah Williams was gone.

So was the bouncer.

***

**Hope You Enjoyed This Part**


	4. Doctors Report

**The Latest Instalment!**

*******

Matt Burke sighed as he listened to Jackie explain what she'd found in hours of CCTV footage that she'd expertly surfaced through without a peep of complaint. He knew he should be thankful that she'd even do it because he knew Robbie would rather call in sick than watch CCTV footage.

"Sir, are you alright?" Burke looked up quickly, a surprised look on his face at the sound of someone actually caring about he felt.

"Ofcourse, Jackie. What makes you ask?"

"You just look… I don't know… distracted…" She commented putting the paperwork down on his desk, her hands threading impatiently through her hair.

"I'm fine, Jackie." He promised in a fake cheery tone of voice before making the fake smile fade. "So, you're suggesting we go talk to the bouncer."

"Well sir. I can't do that until we find out the time of murder because my interogation would kind of be pathetic without that." Burke smiled reluctantly realising that Jackie didn't know how precise she was being. It's just the way she always was.

***

"The cause of death was indeed the seventeen puncture wounds to the upper body. Well to be truthful the cause of death would actually have been the amount of blood loss the poor girl suffered." The doctor commented to them, handing Burke a file. Which he just past on to Jackie, his eyes never leaving the medical examiners. "The bruises on her upper arm are definitely not hers and according to the size of them, our attacker has large hands."

Burke leant over and examined the fingerprint bruises before looking down at his own hands. How the hell anyone could leave fingerprints that big was a shock to him. Could people even have hands that big?

"To add to that our victim was indeed sexually attacked. There's bad bruising here along her pelvis and back as if she struggled against the wall. Also there's chips of white paint here which is a cause for concern because I didn't see any white walls down that alley."

Once again Burke leant in and sighed. The poor woman.

"There was also a sample of semen collected on her upper right leg. Not a very large sample so I'd say our murderer either got rather excited beforehand or tried his best to clean her up."

"Are you suggesting that the murderer is indeed the man who attacked her?" Jackie asked.

The doctor looked over at them with a bored expression. "Well if it wasn't, our victim here is one unlucky lady."

Burke looked over at Jackie, his eyebrows raised at the common sense theory the doctor had just laid down to them. If only things could actually be that easy.

"What do you suggest the time of murder was?"

"I'd say anywhere between 12 and 3." The doctor looked up. "When I get the results back, I'll let you know a neater time slot."

"Thanks doc." Burke said before leaving autopsy, Jackie quickly following.

***

Back in the main room, Burke looked over at Jackie. "I suggest going to talk to our Bouncer. Take Robbie with you."

"Yes boss."

***

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	5. Robbie's Stalked, Suspect Fired

Robbie's mobile hadn't stopped ringing since the moment he'd left the station and it was starting to get on Jackie's nerves. It rang again and she watched as he pressed the end call button. It quickly started ringing again.

"Robbie will you answer that phone please!"

"No. She's stalking me!" He grumbled pressing the end call button again before locking it in the glove compartment of their car, where it just started ringing again.

"You sure do date colourful characters." Robbie slammed on the brakes before turning to look at her, his hands tightening on the steering wheel as his eyes turned to steel.

"Compared to the wonderfully amazing characters you've found yourself caught up with?" He thundered before closing his eyes, breathing heavily before apologising. "I didn't mean that, Jackie. It's just with her constantly ringing me and…"

Leaning over, Jackie had covered his mouth with her hand. Too much of Robbie's voice could drive someone insane. She smiled at him sadly without removing the hand.

"Robbie, you have to stop apologising for everything you say because you just appear to be getting weaker by the minute." She groaned at the sound of the phone. "Let me answer it, I'll tell her I'm the latest flame… Maybe she'll leave you alone for a while?"

Robbie's eyes glittered with gratitude and he tried to mouth thank you behind her hand, which just meant he moistened her lips with his saliva. She removed the hand before wiping it on his shirt.

"Don't mention it."

Fortunately, the phone had stopped ringing so she didn't have to role play just yet.

***

They walked into the nightclub and flashed their badges at the man stood behind the bar.

"Little early for you guys to be out drinking, no?" He said in an American accent, his hands still working effortlessly on the cleaning of the glasses.

"We're not here to drink sir." Jackie commented before pulling a photograph out of her pocket. "We're here to talk to your employer?" She said pointing at the bodyguard.

"You want to speak to Ralph?"

"Yes, I do believe we want to speak to Ralph." Robbie drawled his hands tightening on the bar at the man's obvious dimness or his lack of cooperation. Patience wasn't one of Robbie's main virtues and it really did drive him up the wrong way when someone acted slow.

"Well, officers, I'm afraid you can't speak to him because Ralph was fired this morning."

"Fired?" Jackie asked putting the picture back in her open purse, closing it with slow deliberation before looking up at the man again.

"Yeah, you know? He doesn't work here anymore."

"Why?" Robbie asked as his hand clenched into fists, what was the games the man was playing here?

"The women complained too much about him. He wasn't there to feed his sexual desires, understand?"

"What were the main complaints?"

The man looked over at them, his arms crossing over his chest gently before he laughed gently.

"What ever has happened is real bad for our Ralph, isn't it?"

"Just answer the question, sir." Robbie commented.

"He was too touchy feely. I've lost count of how many women cried attempted rape around our Ralph."

***

Outside the bar, Jackie leant on the car eating the chips that Robbie had bought for himself. So Ralph was a little too personal with the people in the nightclub, sure goes with what they saw in the video footage. The way he'd handled himself. She smiled. The evidence was starting to pile up now.

***

Pulling up at the address that the man had gave them, Robbie and Jackie climbed out. It was a nice, expensive flat compartment. The kind that had security on at night just to make sure that the wrong kind of person didn't even attempt trying to get in. Each floor was one flat and that made Robbie raise his eyebrows.

"Completely in the wrong business." He commented thinking about the crummy flat he'd left behind that morning.

"Security seems THE job." Jackie commented moving up and pressing the buzzer that was marked 'RALPH MCINTYRE". Nothing came on for a good few minutes so she pressed again to be greeted with the smooth words of,

"How may I help you?"

"DS Reid and DI Ross here to see a Ralph McIntyre?" She asked already holding out her badge in case there was some camera kind of thing or anything to prove who you actually was.

"Come on up, officers."

Robbie smiled at Jackie as there was a buzz and the door opened on it's own.

"The amazing world of technology." He drawled letting her in first.


	6. Handsome Suspects, Pregnant Victim

**_Authors Note_: Sorry that it's been a while. I've been kind of always started this chapter and then deleted it because I didn't like it. However, I've sat down and faced it head on. And looked at what it's got us. A nice new chapter :)**

*******

They moved into the modernised flat, their eyes quickly glancing around and Jackie subtly sniffed to see if she could smell any paint fumes. There wasn't any.

A man walked out and Jackie was lost for breath. In person, Ralph McIntyre was a dish! He was tall, muscled and had a handsome shade of red hair. His lips were pressed in a charming grin, revealing a mouth of bright white teeth. His clothes were expensive but looked worth every penny as the material emphasised his toned body. McIntyre obviously did a lot of working out.

"How may I help you officers?" He asked moving over towards them, his Scottish drawl made Jackie want to giggle like a school girl. Instead she coughed once before flashing her badge.

"We're here about a murder." McIntyre looked at Jackie before indicating for them to sit down.

"Sounds serious."

"Murder normally is." Robbie commented sarcastically sitting down and looking over at Jackie, who was glaring back at him.

"Mr McIntyre, last night you was caught on CCTV having an argument with our victim." Jackie explained holding out the picture of them together.

The man took hold of the photograph, looked at it for a few moments before throwing it down onto his coffee table.

"I'm a bouncer, I get into arguments with drunks."

"Not many bouncers get fired for being too hands on, though." Robbie pointed out as he picked up the picture.

"I don't like what you're insinuating, detective."

"I'm not insinuating anything. The photographic evidence is pointing it out for us."

"What was the argument about?" Jackie voiced into their argument, not liking where it was going.

"Who knows? It was probably over something silly like me walking into her or something. Walk into a drunk woman and they cry rape."

"You didn't rape her then?" Robbie asked causing Jackie to stare at him, this wasn't how an interview was supposed to go.

"I didn't rape her. God, I don't even know her name! She was just another drunk that was determined to pick a fight last night. Watch more CCTV footage and you'll witness my partner walking her away."

"Your partner?"

"You know, the other bouncer on the door?"

"There were two of you?" Jackie said looking at the photo in Robbie's hand, only noticing one.

"Yeah, he came up from behind me and escorted her. She'd looked so surprised to see him before smiling. I thought that Bobby might have known her, you know what I mean?"

"Where will Bobby be at this hour?" Robbie asked standing up, handing Jackie the photo.

"Probably in the gym. Why?"

"Don't go anywhere, Mr McIntyre." Was all Robbie said as they let themselves out of the flat.

***

Robbie headed down to the car and looked over at her. "Finished blushing yet?" He asked glaring at over the roof of the car.

"I beg your pardon?" She asked him, her eyebrows lowering.

"I mean, it's not as if you've never seen a guy before and there you go meeting one of our suspects and you find yourself drooling over him."

"Yet you're allowed to drool over all the women we find ourselves investigating?"

"It's typical of men to do it."

"That's a sexist comment and you know it!"

"If Burke had witnessed that…"

"I did nothing out of the ordinary, Robbie!" She barked. "I asked him questions, I listened to his answers, I just thought he was cute at the same time. What's the problem? Upset that I've never sat and looked at you that way?"

She opened her door and sat down causing Robbie to look up at the flat, finding himself looking into the smiling face of Ralph McIntyre. He climbed into the car and started the engine before leaning over and looking at his phone. Three missed calls. All off of her.

"This is starting to become ridiculous."

Jackie bit back the urge to say that everything about him was ridiculous.

***

Burke sighed as he moved down to autopsy to return the phone call that the doctor had left him.

"What's up, doc?" He said finding her sat on a chair, tapping away at the computer.

"Your victim was pregnant."

"Excuse me?"

"Three months pregnant." She clarified standing up and looking over at him. "I have sent away a piece of DNA and hope to find out who our lucky father is soon."

"Thanks, doc."

"Getting any closer to solving the murder?"

"It's not even any clearer and you've just added another piece to my puzzle."

"Sorry."

"It happens, don't you worry."

***

They stood in Burke's office staring at the picture of the girl that was attached to the whiteboard along with some of the CCTV shots.

"We need to find her friend and see if she was dating someone."

"Well she was obviously dating someone to be pregnant." Stuart retorted to Robbie's comment.

"Not all university girls are like that, Stuart dear." Robbie said tapping his shoulder. "Only you live in this world of innocence where you get married first."

"Or at least have a relationship." Stuart snapped back before moving away from Robbie altogether.

"Something I said?" Robbie asked watching as Jackie followed the younger man.

***

She handed him the cup of coffee as she sat with him on the bench, it was a beautiful area but she could feel how upset he was.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing really. I'm just fed up of being alone." He whispered looking down at his hands and sighing. "I just feel as if all I have left in the world is my job and I don't want to end up like the boss, Jackie."

"God, no one does!"

"Robbie does."

"No, that's what he likes to think but I believe there is something inside that makes Robbie realise that being like DCI Burke doesn't make you a better person." She said taking a drink of her coffee.

"It's doing cases like this when a young woman is murdered without a chance to live life or let her unborn child experience life makes you think, god what could I have done in this time?"

"Stuart, you still have loads of time left!"

"Everyone says that, Jackie, but I could be shot on the line of duty right this minute, tomorrow or in a week."

"And you'll have still done something that's worth writing about." Stuart looked at her and laughed.

"I suppose."

"Let's get back before the boss goes mad."

"You bet." He said standing up and throwing his finished coffee into the waste bin, bending to pick up a piece of rubbish that someone else had dropped. He knew not everything was perfect but he could at least try.


	7. They Knew

Burke sighed as he started into the gym, his hands buried in his pockets as he moved towards the man that he'd been told was Robert Sheppard. He knocked on the metal of the machine.

"Mr Sheppard?"

The guy stopped pumping iron and leant forward, taking hold of his towel.

"How may I help you?"

"I'm DCI Matthew Burke." He said flashing his badge as he looked at him. "Could we go somewhere a little private and talk?" He said looking around at all the other men in the place that were starting to stop working on boosting their muscle size and focusing on them.

"Sure, why not."

The man rose from his sitting position, throwing his towel over his shoulder and leading Burke towards the changing rooms. When the door closed behind them, Bobby Sheppard turned and looked at him.

"How may I help you, detective?"

"We're investigating the murder of a young woman that was found murdered at the back of the nightclub where you work."

"Oh and you're asking me if I saw anything suspicious."

"Well yes but rather more pointedly, your fellow bouncer says that you led the victim away after she started to get abusive towards him."

Something flickered in Bobby's face before he looked down at his hands.

"A pretty blonde student?"

"That is our victim."

"I moved her away because I could see the anger in Ralph's eyes. He'd have probably hit her if I hadn't moved her away."

"What were they arguing over?"

"She was drinking." Bobby said making Burke's eyebrows raise.

"Why is that Ralph's problem?"

Bobby just raised his shoulders in an uncaring shrug as he started to turn on showers, his hand feeling the heat of the water.

"Was Ralph McIntyre friends with our victim?"

"I really couldn't tell you sir."

"Thanks for your time." Burke grumbled sarcastically as he headed out of the building.

***

"He knew about the child?" Jackie said surprised as she sat at her desk stirring her cup of coffee.

"Why is that such a surprise, Jackie?"

"Because, boss, the woman didn't have a bump. She was only a few months pregnant…" Robbie clicked his fingers at Jackie's explanation.

"The only way he'd know was if he was family or actually the baby's father." Jackie stopped stirring her coffee and nodded at him.

"Bingo."


	8. Stuart Interrogates

**A/N: I would like to thank Rikkurox for pointing out a confusing part in the last chapter. Yes, they believe that Ralph knew about the baby and that's why he was angry with her... :)**

***

Ralph sighed as he sat in the interrogation room, his fingers tapping an irritating beat on the metal table. The detectives stood behind the two-way mirror, their jaws clenched as they bit the urge to slam their fists against the mirror or at least snap his fingers so that he couldn't move them.

"Okay, who is interviewing the suspect?" Burke asked stepping into the room, a grimace stretching on his face as he listened to the scratchy beat. His eyes immediately glancing at the mirror.

"I'll do it." Stuart piped up as he started to straighten his tie, taking hold of the file that Burke held out against him.

***

The door clicked and Stuart stepped in, smiling at Ralph. Ralph looked over at him, his eyebrows raising in a cocky manner. "They send the baby into interview me?"

"Well, I'm a lot nicer than them lot. They'd really hurt someone they suspected had killed a woman who was pregnant." He paused and smiled. "Especially seeing as you knew she was pregnant."

"I didn't know she was pregnant." He said a little too quickly and that made Stuart smile as he sat down at his seat across from him.

"Really?" He opened the file before looking up at him. "You wont mind giving us some DNA then so we can just affirm you aren't the baby's father?"

"You can fuck off." The man spat angrily.

"Is that you admitting you did sleep with our victim?"

"Its me admitting nothing." Stuart looked at him, his eyebrows raised before nodding.

"Okay. We'll get a warrant for your DNA but I'd like to point out by denying us this, you look even more guilty." Stuart commented standing up before closing the file. Moving away, he pushed in his chair and headed to the door.

"I loved her. I wouldn't kill her." Stuart stopped and turned to look at Ralph.

"Continue."

"I met her a few months ago when she must have first started university here in Strathclyde. She's doing teaching at Jordanhill." He said smiling. Stuart didn't comment on the present tense just let the man continue talking. "She was always so happy. She understood children and loved working with them. I remember the time she met my daughter, she was amazing with her."

"You have a daughter?"

"Previous relationship that went bad after the little one's birth. The mother didn't want to waste her time on a loser like me." Stuart noticed how bitter the words were and realised he was quoting what his ex had said to him. "She was so nice to my daughter that's when I realised me and her would make an amazing partnership."

"You didn't know about the baby?"

"No."

"So what was the argument over?"

"She ended it." He whispered looking down at the table, his fingers picking at the scabs that were forming around his knuckles - the result of a heavy session on a punching bag.

"Why?"

"She had found someone else."

"Do you know this someone?"

"Shockingly, I didn't ask." Ralph snapped looking back down.

"You were angry she ended it?"

Ralph laughed as he looked over at Stuart, "Wouldn't you be if you believed that this amazing woman was the love of your life and she ended it because she'd found someone else?"

"Angry enough to kill her?"

He stopped laughing as he looked down at his hands, "I've just fed you another motive but I can tell you now. It wasn't me. When she was found, I was gone remember. I was probably in the back office with my cousin getting fired."

"Cousin?"

"Yeah. The business is owned by my older cousin, Ewan McIntyre."

"Oh. He didn't mention that." Stuart said reading through the notes before looking back at Ralph. "We're sorry about wasting your time. You're free to go but don't leave the city."

"What and make myself look more guilty." Ralph sneered as he stood up. "No thanks." He looked at Stuart before sighing. "Take my DNA. I want to prove that I have no involvement in this case."

"Thanks for your co-operation."

***

Robbie looked at Jackie. "I don't think I've ever seen Stuart do such a good interogation."

"You just don't give him the chance." She commented back before turning to watch as Stuart came in. "Well done. You got a lot more information out of him then we expected."

"I know but was any of it useful?" He asked biting his lip as he watched as their forensic moved a swab around McIntyre's mouth.

"Yeah. We need to learn who was the father now and we need to realise that there was a new lover. What if he didn't want the child?"

"He could be a married man…"

"… A happy bachelor."

Stuart smiled over at the two of them, his head shaking. They really were like a comic duo.

"You're right."

"So who do we look at first."

"Ewan McIntyre." Stuart chipped in causing the three members to look at him.

"Explain yourself." Burke demanded.

"Why didn't he tell us that Ralph was family?" The team nodded and Robbie clapped Stuart's back.

"Hang on. Ewan is a very Scottish name… Wouldn't you agree?" Jackie suddenly asked casuing everyone to look over at her.

"Your point being?"

"The man we spoke to in the nightclub was American?"

***

The two detectives stepped back into the nightclub to see a different man sat at one of the tables, a pen between his teeth as he thumbed through a large account book. "Excuse me, we're looking for Ewan McIntyre."

"You found him." A Scottish voice drawled and Jackie raised her eyebrows.

"We're here about Ralph."

The man groaned as he put his pen down and looked at them before saying, "What has he done now?"

Jackie and Robbie swapped glances. This was starting to become one hell of a headache case.


	9. Family Connection

Jackie sat down on the seat that the man indicated for her to sit at. Ewan McIntyre was just as attractive as his cousin and she immediately found herself falling for the charismatic smile he kept flashing at her.

"We're here about the murder that happened last night?"

The man sighed as he sat down, his head shaking as he moved to put the pen down on the open book. Jackie found herself waiting patiently as if she had a feeling that he wanted to talk.

"Shocking affair. I'd like to say it would cut me back on profit but you know what people are like…" He sighed as he shook his head. "vultures." He spat the word out with real venom. "They see something bad in the papers and flock to the scene."

"You don't agree with this?"

"Hell no! It gives us club owners a bad reputation. I don't want people saying come to this bar because a woman was murdered outside."

"The girl was dating your cousin, Mr McIntyre." Robbie cut in, not really wanting to listen to this man ramble on when there was someone more worse off than him in the world.

"Ralph didn't do public girlfriends, DI Ross. Ralph hated the family knowing about them and them knowing about us. He didn't like prestige."

"There was obviously a trace of money whenever you stepped into his flat."

"He'd simply say it was from a lost relative who'd died recently." The man sighed. "He had plenty of stories to keep the girls hidden away, DI Ross."

"Why was he ashamed of the money?"

"It destroyed his father. His father eventually died of liver poisoning. He found comfort in the end of a bottle because his wife didn't love him because he loved the money. Ralph just wanted the family life." The man stopped and pulled out his wallet. "Which he could have had with Mary here." He said handing Jackie a photo.

The photo was of the two McIntyre cousins and an attractive blonde woman. There was love and adoration in the woman's eyes as she looked up at Ralph.

"The mother to his daughter?"

"Yeah. Ralph ended it because he didn't want the commitment just yet. That was his mother and father's problem. They married too young, had Ralph and then their life was pretty much destroyed. My parents raised him."

"That's why you gave him a job here? Your family always protected him?"

"Family is a lot to the Scottish. You guys should know that."

The two officers swapped glances and realised that it was how the big Scottish families worked. There was no one else in the world but the person who had the same blood/surname as themselves.

"Do you think Ralph could hurt any woman?"

"He hated violence."

"So why did you sack him because he was to hands on?"

"That isn't why I fired him. I told him he needed to stand on his own two feet."

Jackie was now confused and was starting to develop the headache she'd thought of earlier. Sighing, she rose from her seat.

"Who was the American man we dealt with this morning?"

"That's Ralph's half brother. Denzel Stratton."

"Half brother?"

"His father went on a road trip to America and couldn't control himself around the pretty American women. He's eighteen and just wanted to meet his family. I took him in as barman."

"How generous of you."

***

"It really is a family business." Burke commented as he sat in his chair, rubbing at his face. "Are we getting any nearer to solving this case because my arse is too much on the line because we have no leads?"

A light knock at the door made them all look over and smiled at the forensic. She stepped in holding a large brown envelope.

"That better be giving me a lead." Burke teased as he looked over at her.

"Your Ralph McIntyre isn't the father."

The team all cursed. So she hadn't brought them a lead but she'd totally decimated their top lead.

"It is, however, a family member."

"How close?"

"How close have we got?"

"A cousin and a half brother."

The forensic looked over at them, her lips pursed as she pulled a face.

"It could be either."

Burke smiled as he stood up, "Let's get them both in here."

***

The two cars pulled up outside the nightclub, the four detectives climbed out and moved inside.

"Denzel Stratton. Your services are required down at the station." Stuart supplied moving over, flashing his badge at the younger guy.

"Why?" The young guy stuttered, following without asking any questions but knew that something bad was happening.

Ewan McIntyre stood up. "What is happening here?"

"You and your cousin are needed down at the station."

"Why?"

"All will be explained." DI Ross said smiling at the man as he indicated for him to move. "I'd do it without struggling. The boss hasn't had his breakfast yet." He teased smiling at Jackie, who just smiled back.


	10. Denzel

The two men sat in different interrogation rooms. Both doing the same harsh movements with their hands. Their eyes both darted around the room with nerves. The shocking part was that it was Stratton that was a little bit more in control. Really shocking for an eighteen year old.

"Ewan McIntyre has a clean record. Never got into bother with the police." Stuart commented as he moved into the secret room opposite Ewan's mirror.

"So we have an angelic nightclub owner?" Robbie said finding it rather hard to believe.

"It is one hell of a shock to find. He's never been under caution or under suspect for anything. He really keeps himself to himself."

Robbie nodded as he looked through at the man. There was a point in everyone's life where the person decided to crack and they couldn't do the good thing anymore. Every man hit boiling point. Maybe the drunk Sarah had done something to annoy him.

"We'll soon find out." He said before indicating that Stuart could leave.

***

Jackie watched as Stratton stood up and started to move around the small room, his hands being wrung together lightly as if he had a slight itch that was really starting to annoy him.

"Our little friend has god knows how many little black marks against his name."

"Excuse me?"

"And do you want to know what for?"

"Always."

Jackie stood up from her slouched position against her wall, her hand being held out in silent request for the folder. Stuart handed it to her, studying her face to see her reaction.

It was the one he wanted.

Her eyebrows raised as she turned to look at him.

"Well. Young Denzel hasn't helped his case any, has he?"

***

"You can't keep me here." The young man spat as she moved into the room holding two bottles of water. She gave one to him and sat down, noticing how he eyeballed it.

Sighing, she opened her bottle took a drink and offered it to him. "You watch too many TV shows, kid."

"Nothing like taking part in your own though." He muttered sarcastically.

"So… We're here about Sarah Williams."

"Never heard of her."

"Don't lie to me, Denzel. She's your brother's sister. You live in his flat. You must have bumped into her once or twice."

"Once or twice." He said with a sneer. "I bumped into her more than once or twice."

Jackie completely understood what his little innuendo meant and felt sick to the stomach. She looked over at him, her face not changing to show that his crude words hadn't affected her – much.

"Are you the other man?"

"Hell yeah. She wanted some American meat. Some young American meat. Who wants my dull, older Scottish brother when you can have this." With that he moved his hands over his torso and Jackie realised that this guy was a treat.

"Did you kill her?"

"Why would I want to kill the slag?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"She dropped her knickers for me a few times. Why would I want to kill my piece of tail?"

Jackie stood up and left the room. Taking a deep breath she watched as Burke and Stuart left the other room.

"Are you alright, Jackie?"

"Can't stand a man who talks about a woman that way."

"I know. We thought Robbie was bad." Stuart commented shuddering before looking back at her. "Want to go back in?"

"Leave him there for a bit. Or even better, get Robbie to interrogate him."

***

Robbie moved into the room and smiled at the young man. "You sure gave my fellow detective a treat."

"She not used to being spoken to like that?"

"Don't think she'll ever be used to it. Catholic." He added on at the end as some sort of explanation that the American boy obviously understood because he laughed.

"Some girls at my school in America were like that. Which was a shame because they were hot!"

"You like the girls?"

"Like them?! I love them. They love me. It's my animal magnetism."

"Tell me about the first time you met Sarah Williams."


	11. New Lead

"I'd not been feeling too good so Ewan let me go home early. I was feeling a little queasy so the idea was to come home, take a few aspirins and collapse in my bed." The young boy stopped talking and took a deep breath before continuing. "The lights were out so I guessed my brother was asleep. He always was."

"Right."

"So I didn't turn on any lights because the lights are really bright in the flat so I moved through to the kitchen. That's when I saw her stood at the fridge in nothing more than my brother's shirt. I thought that was weird because Ralph had never mentioned having a girlfriend. I flicked on the kitchen light and she panicked, dropping the milk she'd been taking out because she didn't know about me."

"She didn't know about you?"

"Ralph didn't like to share family details. Especially not about me. I was lucky he took me in. He hated knowing that his father had an affair behind his mother's back."

"Right. What happened between you then?"

"I apologised for scaring her and made an introduction. She was gorgeous and all I could see was the long legs peering underneath the shirt and I knew she was wearing no underwear. I kissed her."

"You're a fast mover."

"What's the point of going slow when you can get the same results with going fast?"

"Great philosophy. How did Sarah react?"

"She tried to push me away but then eventually relaxed against me. We did it on the kitchen table as my brother slept." The guy laughed as he looked at Robbie, his grin one of many stories. "There was that adrenaline of being caught by him. He wasn't a light sleeper but there was the odd morning where he got thirsty and came out for a drink."

"How often did you and Sarah meet in the kitchen?"

"Eventually we moved away from the kitchen and to my room because Sarah was afraid that we'd wake Ralph." Denzel leant forward on the chair, getting nearer to Robbie. "She was a screamer, you see." He laughed leaning back away. "Do you not think the screamers are the best?"

"I wouldn't want to comment. I need to work with Detective Reid."

"Ah, our catholic prude." Denzel laughed.

"Are you the father to Sarah's child?" Robbie bluntly asked.

"Oh God, I fucking hope not. Do you know what that would mean? I'd need to tell Ralph!"

"Ralph never learnt about you two then?"

"We called it off because we realised that hurting Ralph wasn't what we wanted."

Robbie straightened in his chair as he looked over at him. "See, Sarah told Ralph a completely different story. A story of her being in love with someone else so she was leaving him."

The young boy's face fell as he looked over at the detective, his hands tightening in fists. "No. We wasn't stupid enough to fall in love! We wouldn't do that! We're too young to feel love!"

Now sat in front of Robbie was the impression of a scared little boy who'd decided to cross into a world that he'd never completely understand and he knew it. Robbie shrugged his shoulders as he leant forward to look at Denzel.

"That's the problem with girls, Denzel, they fall in love really easily. One simple guy whispers in their ears that they're beautiful and wonderful and they're smitten." Robbie smiled. "How many times did you tell Sarah that she was beautiful, that you was happy to be spending them few moments with them?"

"Several times." The kid said with less confidence.

"That's what happens when children decide to play adult games. You leave mangled lies so that people get hurt."

"I didn't hurt Sarah!"

"She still ended up pregnant and dead!" Robbie barked.

"And it has nothing to do with me!"

"Well then you wont have any problem with us taking your DNA, will you?"

The guy panicked as he looked at him before shrugging his shoulder, "if you really want it."

***

"Does anyone think Denzel is the father of the child?" Burke asked as he moved to sit in his chair, his hands rubbing over his head as he nibbled his lip.

"He looked like the type to use protection. He does this kind of thing all the time. He's the ultimate player." Jackie commented sitting down on one of the seats, her hand rubbing her jaw as she sighed. "I don't think he'd make the mistake." She sighed. "I can't believe it's not Ralph's."

"What about Ewan?"

"Never met her. He actually looked as if he didn't know her when I mentioned her name." Robbie commented.

"Whereas when you talk to Denzel there was that recognition in his eyes that he knew her and he knew her well." Jackie chipped in on the end before turning to look at them.

"Anyone else think we're barking up the complete tree?"

"How do you mean, Stuart?" Burke asked looking over at the blonde guy that had just entered the office.

"Well I've been just looking at her bank deeds. She'd been receiving a steady balance of £10 000 every two months but then that eventually dried out and the same amount was being withdrawn."

"Who was making the payments?"

"Her father."

"When did the payments stop?"

"A few months ago."

"When she learnt she was pregnant."

"Daddy stopped her bank balance because there wasn't anyway she was going to be able to finish her education due to the simple idea that she'd need to be a mother."

"Yeah but money has been coming back into the bank account by this name."

Burke looked at it and sighed. It was one of their well known pimps.

"That doesn't look good."

***

Stuart sighed that night as he stepped into the nightclub. He'd been enchanted by the place since the first time he'd come into investigate. He didn't know why but it was just… cosy. He headed to the bar and ordered a drink, watching as everyone danced on the floor.

"Didn't think I'd see you in here, detective!" Stuart turned to look at the man stood behind the bar and smiled at Ewan McIntyre.

"Us detectives need to relax and leave the job some time too…"

"I understand. It's a tough job." Ewan smiled tapping the bar indicating for the man to pull up a seat. Stuart sat and smiled at him.

"You get used to it after a while." Stuart said shrugging as he put a straw in his glass - he had a thing about drinking out of glasses, you didn't know how dirty they were - before looking at him. "It's probably as stressful as owning a nightclub."

"You look like a tough guy who can handle it though." McIntyre drawled in a voice that Stuart didn't know if he trusted but found himself smiling anyway.

"I am a tough kind of guy who can handle it."


	12. The Morning After

Stuart was woken that morning by the softest kiss imagined. His eyes fluttered open and he could have cursed as he saw the handsome face of Ewan McIntyre leaning over him.

What the hell had he done last night?

"Good morning, Detective Fraser." The man all but drawled in a sweet way that made Stuart realise how easy it had probably been for Stuart falling into his bed.

"Um… This is going to sound extremely weird but… did we do anything last night?"

"Want a recap?" The man laughed as he moved his hand his chest, starting to head lower. This made Stuart actually fly out of the bed as he looked over at the man. "What's a matter?"

"I need the bathroom." He said leaving the room and quickly locking himself in.

His hands trembled as he filled them with cold water, sloshing it over his face. He did this a couple of times before grabbing a towel and dabbing the moisture off as he tried to remember what happened between them.

_The bar was starting to close and Stuart fell off the stool, laughing. He couldn't remember drinking that much. "That's what stress does to you." He laughed at himself as he headed towards the door._

"_Going already, Detective?"_

"_I'm afraid so, Mr McIntyre." Stuart said as he nodded his head at the tall man who stood in his way, thinking this would make him move. The man smiled as he took hold of Stuart's chin and held it still so that he could lean in and steal a kiss._

_Stuart knew that this was wrong. The man was a suspect in the main case they were working on. He should turn around and leave before anything bad started._

_But it had been so long since he'd been held. Since he'd been kissed. Since he'd felt like someone needed him._

_He responded, his hands wrapping around the man so that he could pull him against him._

_Their kisses got harsher, more passionate as they stumbled up to the flat above the nightclub. Their lips mating as they crashed against the bed, their clothes being torn off._

And the rest was history, Stuart coldly thought as he relieved himself in the toilet. His hands pressed against the wall, clenched into fists.

The bad thing about the whole thing was that Ewan McIntyre was an attractive man. He had abs to die for and from what Stuart could remember, he had gave him a great evening. He sighed as he finished what he was doing, flushing the toilet.

That's when he froze. Underneath the sink was cans of white paint. He moved back against the wall, his eyes opening in horror as he tried to think reasonably about why he had white paint in the bathroom.

Kneeling down on the floor in front of the toilet, he emptied his stomach of it's contents violently as he tried not to believe that he'd slept with their prime suspect.

There could be a rational explanation for the paint underneath the sink. He could have been decorating. But there was nothing in the house white.

There was a knock at the door and he opened it to find himself staring at Ewan McIntyre, who was grinning a very charismatic smile that was making his heart beat.

"I made breakfast."

"I don't want to be rude but I have to go home and change before starting work."

"That's not rude. That's just the way it is."

Stuart nodded as he looked at the man, dodging past him before freezing.

"There are paint cans in your bathroom."

Ewan McIntyre slowly turned towards him, his eyebrows raising as he waited for Stuart to finish his question.

"White paint cans?"

"I had Ralph and Denzel paint the back office."

"May I take a look at the back office please?"

Confusion darted across Ewan's face but he shrugged his shoulders as he took hold of the man's hand and led him back to the office.

***

The main office was very stylish and Stuart could imagine Ewan sat on the leather chair, his power radiating over the mere mortals that were his workers.

Stuart examined the room and noticed what it was he was looking at. By the far wall there was smudges on the wall, where it had been chipped off. Looking up he saw the CCTV camera.

"Does that scan the entire room?"

"Stuart, explain this to me."

"You know I can't. Ewan." He said looking at him before watching as McIntyre moved over to the safe and handed him a reel of tape.

"The day before and of the crime." He coldly said before starting to leave.

Stuart felt something sink inside so he ran after him, taking hold of his wrist and bringing him back against him,

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Ewan whispered softly before taking hold of his lips again, his hands running through his hair. "I completely understand."

"That's good." Stuart whispered before taking his lips again. He couldn't believe he'd fallen for the wrong guy. This never happened to him. He liked easy perfection.

***

Walking into the office, he ignored the looks that Jackie and Robbie gave him because he knew they'd been discussing the reasons for why he was late. If only they knew.

Knocking on Burke's office, he stepped in and handed the tapes to him. "The office in the back of the nightclub has just been painted white. There were chips of it missing." That's when he handed the man a piece of tissue with a few chips of the white paint that he'd taken without Ewan noticing.

"How do you know this?"

"I'd rather not say, boss." Stuart mumbled before leaving, heading straight to the coffee room. Pouring himself a coffee, wishing that it was alcohol more than anything in his life.


	13. The Office CCTV

**_A/N: It's a dreadfully short one but needs to be here. Enjoy :)_**

Stuart sat in Burke's office fighting back tears as he watched the CCTV from his office. He caught his heart racing as he watched Ewan doing the mundane activities in life such as reading his e-mails, shredding letters that he wanted no one else to read. Whenever Ewan went to leave the room, Stuart felt his heart sink and he hated knowing how pathetic he must be appearing.

There was a light tap at the door and Stuart pressed pause before turning to look over at Jackie. He knew that she was going to ask questions and he knew he shouldn't tell anyone anything but he knew he could trust Jackie. Jackie was like a sister to him. He'd trust her with his life.

"I've made the biggest mistake of my life."

"A bad mistake?" She asked quietly as she pulled up a chair next to him and looked at him.

"Yes and no." He sighed as he twirled the remote around his fingers. "I spent the night with Ewan McIntyre."

Jackie was silent for a few moments before leaning over and taking hold of his hand. "That's how you got these tapes."

"He had cans of white paint underneath his bathroom sink." Stuart whispered staring at the hazy figure of Ewan on the screen. "I just felt my heart sink and then when I noticed the fresh paint had chips in it already…" He stopped talking and let the tears fall. "Jackie, what have I done?"

"Nothing. Don't you worry about a single thing!" She took hold of his face in her hands and made her look at him. "We've all done it, Stuart."

"I know but I feel like I let the boss down."

"No if anything you've probably found us the biggest lead yet to come…"

"I wish I had your positive attitude."

"You do. Now press play and lets see what happened to our girl." Stuart sighed before pressing the button.

Together they watched as Denzel led Sarah into the office, they watched as they had rough sex against the office. That explained the rape thing, it appeared the two of them liked it rough. Stuart looked at Jackie but he could see she was looking down at the floor. Definitely wasn't anything pretty.

"Jackie!" He said poking her before noticing the door opened. Standing in the doorway was Ralph McIntyre.

"Ah, big brother learnt that little brother was sharing the same woman."

"Bet that didn't go down too well." Stuart said realising that he had been holding his breath fearing that something would show it was Ewan.

"Told you everything would be okay." She said squeezing his hand before nudging her head towards the door. "Go tell Burke."

***

Burke listened to the man, his teeth biting into his bottom lip. Something still wasn't plausible to him. "You don't appear to understand that Ralph was back in that office at the time of the murder…"

That's when Stuart had an idea. "What if Denzel felt guilty afterwards? Come on, if you found your brother sleeping with the woman you loved as roughly as they were there would have been words shared between them?"

"Right…"

"Denzel could have felt guilty afterwards. Ralph is the only family we have and Ewan said it earlier to Jackie and Robbie "family is a big thing". Denzel could have realised that he'd lost something important to him and decided to destroy the one thing that stepped in his way!"

"And from the mind of a young boy he believed his brother would want him back too…"

"Exactly."

"Get Stratton and McIntyre together in an interrogation room. I want to watch how they act together for a bit." Burke ordered.


	14. Confession

**A/N:: Sorry it's been so long. I've been so caught up in things but here you are with the latest chapter. Hope you enjoy :) **

**Disclaimer : I only own Ralph, Denzel and Sarah. The rest are owned by the creators of Taggart.**

*******

The two brothers looked at each other as they were placed into the same interrogation room. Ralph's was the first look to turn cold as he looked away almost immediately. He didn't want to be in the same room as his brother because it angered him. In his mind he could still see what he'd witnessed in Ewan's office, he didn't need any stupid CCTV tape to show him that he'd fallen in love with a cheating bitch or that his own blood had been the one to break his heart so badly.

"Ralph..." Denzel attempted but didn't continue as the older brother turned to look up at him, his eyebrows rose in a silent challenge for him to continue.

The young boy moved his gaze away as a warm blush lit up his handsome features, his lower lip being tortured by his lips as he tried to think of what he could say to his brother. He'd tried apologising but Ralph just told him that this was big boy games now and an apology didn't get you out of the trouble you found yourself in. Denzel had definitely learnt that moral the hard way.

"Ralph..." Denzel attempted again this time with a little more confidence showing that he'd finally worked out what he was going to say.

His brother looked over at him, a bored expression tattooed across his face as he waited and then sighed realising that the younger boy wanted a spoken recognition before he would continue. "If you want to waste your breath talking to me, Denzel, go for it but don't expect me to waste my breath on you."

"I didn't want to hurt you, Ralph." The boy sounded like a young child as he spoke, his eyes trained on his fidgeting hands as he tried to correctly word his sentence. "She was just so beautiful and so wanting that I found myself falling for her every time she was near to me. I should have stayed away but I'm not used to the idea of something belonging definitely to someone."

The older boy realised this because he'd heard the stories about how Denzel's parents had both had numbers of affairs and had not even attempted to keep them silent from their young child. Ralph was not surprised that Denzel had thought this was the accurate behaviour. Ever since arriving here in Scotland, he'd done nothing but pursue girls and break many hearts. He sighed as he sat down across from him.

"Did you hurt her, Denny?" He whispered fearing the answer because this was always going to be his baby brother and he knew that he needed to protect her.

"She was pregnant with my child, Ralph. I hate knowing that because I'm too young to be a dad. I didn't want anything to do with her when she told me. Also you wasn't talking to me anymore and I hated it!"

***

Jackie stood in the other room, her arms crossed over her chest as she turned to look at Robbie. There was definitely something strange about Denzel Stratton.

"Where did this whiney child come from?" Robbie asked moving up behind her, his hands resting against her shoulders as he bit his lip.

"I don't know but it definitely isn't the boy I interviewed this morning."

"Nor me. The boy I interviewed this morning did not have a glowing opinion of his older half brother. You'd think he hated him!" Robbie commented brightly as he moved his hands away from her shoulders and she was surprised at how much she missed the warmth as she turned to look at him.

"This is becoming one case, Robbie. I feel as if something is missing. I just can't see where."

"How do you mean by missing?"

"Well I don't think it's any of our boys for the simple reason none of them gained anything. Ralph was madly in love. Denzel had a hot piece of tail that obeyed his every command and Ewan didn't even know about her. So what else is there?"

"Our pimp..." Robbie brought up one of the previous facts they'd learnt from investigating about in her bank balance.

"Exactly and would any of our boys attack her right beside their own nightclub? I mean, not one of them is stupid. They're all intelligent in their own way."

"I know. I feel sorry for this Sarah. She definitely mixed with the wrong family."

"Or the wrong crowd." Jackie commented for him as she turned back to look at the brothers who were still talking aggressively towards each other.

***

"Did you even love her?" Ralph found himself asking, his finger and thumb pinching the bridge of his nose as he feared the answer that his brother would share with him.

"Ralph, don't ask me that when you know it's going to upset you..."

"Just answer the question, Denzel!" The boy looked up at the lack of his pet name that his older brother had annoyingly dubbed him.

"I didn't love her. I never loved her. I just loved knowing that I was banging something that perfect Ralph found so damned precious!" Denzel spat angrily, his hands slamming down onto the table. "You've always had everything and you dare look at me as if I was an imperfection on your life."

"You was a damned imperfection, Denzel. You're appearance into the family showed what kind of bastard my father really was and I hated it! I hated knowing that my mother had been taken for a ride for a good part of their married life. He knew about you or you wouldn't have been in his stupid will!"

"Well I ruined one part of your saintly life so I decided to end it all. I tried so many attempts. I convinced the women to tell Ewan you was friendly with your fists, I convinced your partner to believe the same thing but Ewan refused to get rid of you because you're family and family is important to you lot. Not once did you guys think of how much I felt I was missing because I felt like I was being treated like an outsider!"

"You was an outsider, Denzel. You're an American boy who turns up in my father's will, you immediately think that we want something to do with you when we really don't but my mother told me to forgive you for my father's sins so I took you in." Ralph laughed. "Then you slept with Sarah."

"She was good, Ralph. Really good. At night she'd tell me how she loved having me on the side because you didn't satisfy her."

Ralph ignored the comment, "Is that when she got clingy?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You had that girl constantly ringing and texting you. You never answered your phone. You just cursed her and would look at me and mutter about how you should never have got involved. Was this girl Sarah?"

"Yes. She was ringing me because I'd ended it. Ended it because she admitted to me that she was pregnant and she was keeping the child and worst of all, she was going to tell you that I was the father to her child and that she was leaving you."

"Why couldn't you let that happen?"

"Because she made you smile. I heard you singing in the shower one morning; can't you remember me asking why?"

Something clouded over Ralph's face before he nodded.

"And I asked you what it was that made you smile so brightly and you just turned round and told me that that was what love did to a Scottish man. It made him sing in the shower, it made him smile because he knew he had something so damned precious and he knew that he should never let it go."

"So you ended it with her?"

"She didn't like that and threatened to tell you so I screwed her again knowing that she'd be putty in my hands afterwards but you walked in..."

"And she thought she had her happy ending?"

"I could see that smug smile on her face but could also see your face, the fact that I'd taken that smile away from your face hurt me because no matter how little we've known each other and shit, I realised I did love you. You're not a cool big brother but you're as good as they come!"

"So..."

"I followed her out of the club where you were yelling at her and I asked her to follow me to a cafe. She came because she thought we'd be able to sort it out. She kept saying over and over again that it was good you knew because we would no longer need to stay secret about our love for each other. I told her I didn't love her and I never would love her. She started screaming that she was going to tell you everything. Everything just so that there would be no way I'd be happy to so I stabbed her. I don't even know why the knife was there but it was and I can still see her expression as I pulled the knife out again. We were in the middle of the streets so I took hold of her and dragged her into the alley behind the club, I remember her looking at me. She told me that I loved her and I would regret doing this to her eventually. She knew it because she loved me too. So I stabbed her again and again until she stopped talking. She just wouldn't stop talking!" The boy shouted the last line through his tears. "I never loved her. Never."

Ralph sat there in shock, tears falling down his own cheeks.

The door opened and Robbie walked in, "Denzel Stratton, we are arresting you with the murder of Sarah Williams..." He drawled helping the boy up from his chair.

"I'm so sorry, Ralph." The boy whispered as he allowed the police officer to lead him away.

Jackie moved over and lightly squeezed Ralph's shoulder before releasing him of the handcuffs around his wrist. "We're sorry for wasting your time, Mr McIntyre." The guy smiled weakly before hiding his face in his hands as his shoulders shuddered violently with sobs.

The two detectives swapped glances.


	15. The End Of Another Day

DCI Matthew Burke sighed as he sat down in his office, his hands shaking as he moved over to pull open the drawer that had been plaguing him the last few days. He pulled out the letter and held it in his hands, shocked that it still felt as if it mentally weighed a tonne because he knew that this letter would be what shaped his future after today.

There was a knock on his office door and he looked up, immediately hiding the letter away underneath his desk. "Jackie, how may I help you?" He asked carefully looking over at her, a fake smile on his face that he should have guessed would immediately make her suspicious.

"Are you going to hand that in sir?" She asked moving in, the door closing behind her as she moved towards the chair at the opposite side of his desk.

"I don't think that's any of your business, Jackie..." He started before laughing. "I'm sorry. I don't know what to do." He whispered anymore, not liking that he was admitting defeat to her.

"I don't think you'll know what to do if you left this place, sir." She commented truthfully, her shoulders shrugging in a careless shrug as she bit her lip gently. Standing up, she smiled. "I know whatever you decide, it will be the right choice." She headed to the door before turning back to look at him, "We're going down the pub if you would like to join us?"

"No thanks, Jackie. I think I'll stay here a little longer." She just nodded before leaving him alone.

Robbie smiled over at her as she approached him, her hands taking hold of the coat that he was holding out to her. How had he never noticed how beautiful she looked when she wore that thinking face? "What you thinking about?"

"Nothing." She whispered before allowing him to help her wear her coat, his hands moved to pull out her hair from the back of her coat. Where his skin touched left a tingling feeling against her skin and she felt herself shivering as she moved away from him. "It's just me, you and Stuart going to the pub tonight by the looks of things because Matt wants to stay here and do some work."

"Hate to break it to you girls but I am not coming either because I have something to sort out." He whispered looking over at Jackie, who just smiled back at him before squeezing his arm.

"Good luck." She whispered before turning back to look at Robbie, her eyes glittering with amusement as she looked at him. "Just okay with it being me and you for this drink?"

"Miss Jackie, I'm always happy for it to be just me and you." He whispered holding out his arm so that she could thread her hand through the crook of his elbow. She laughed as she rested her head against his shoulder, listening to him talk about how he'd got his stalker to leave him alone.

***

Knocking on the office door, Stuart let himself in and smiled at Ewan McIntyre. "Hey." He whispered standing by the door shyly holding onto the bottle of red wine he'd bought on his way over here. Ewan looked over at him, a bored expression tattooed across his facial features and Stuart was afraid of what this meant.

"How may I help you, DC Fraser?" Ewan asked in a serious tone of voice as he rose from his chair, moving to sit on the side of his desk, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at him.

"Ewan, please..." Stuart pleaded moving closer to him, standing between his legs as he looked at the man. He placed the wine on the table before enveloping the man's bristly cheeks into his hands. "I didn't mean to hurt you..."

"You didn't hurt me, Stuart." The man lied making Stuart chuckle.

"I can tell when someone is lying!" He whispered before leaning in and stealing a quick kiss before pressing a haste kiss to the tip of the man's nose. "I think I've fallen in love with you. I know it's been too short of a time to say that but I believe I mean it."

"No. I feel the same too." He whispered leaning in and stealing a kiss. "I didn't hate you for what you did, I understand you did what you had to."

"I know. I'm sorry." He whispered before smiling. "Forgiven?"

"Always!" Ewan whispered kissing him back, taking hold of his hand and leading upstairs to the flat.

***

Burke rose from his desk, the letter still in his hand as he headed to the door. He looked around the office and laughed as he noticed that Robbie had left his wallet on the table meaning that Jackie would be buying the drinks, she'd left her coffee cup half filled with cold coffee whereas Stuart's desk was immaculate and showed no signs of life. Chuckling to himself, he threw the letter in the bin.

This was his life.

Tomorrow was just going to be another day.

***

***Authors Note***

**So here it is, the end of my first Taggart fanfic *gasps***

** I've really enjoyed writing this story and I can't believe it's over BUT no fear, I'm planning on writing a new one very soon *dances***

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. It's really meant a lot to me :)**


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